NEIL SHARDLOW: Continuity key for the long game

I USUALLY say that I prefer the three-day format of the game but with the way that the one-day competition has been going for us so far this season, I’ve definitely been enjoying that too.

We start the three-day competition this season with a game against Oxfordshire, who are a notoriously strong side.

We’ve tried to select the same side that has been playing in the one-day games because they’re in good form and we’ve got the quarter-final (against Norfolk on June 15) to think about the week afterwards too.

But there are a few who are going to be missing and can’t make it due to work commitments and things like that – we’re going to be without James Hayward and Tom Morton and Ed Kilbee has had to drop out too.

But we’ve still got a strong side, with plenty of players available, and the squad may also get stronger as we progress through the summer.

We’ve got the likes of Jayden Levitt, Toby Davies and Richie Underdown up our sleeve and we’ll have to have a think about whether to include them when the time comes.

Confidence is high after the results we’ve picked up so far this season but we’ll be having a chat on Sunday morning about trying to put together a performance across both innings.

We drew one game against Wales last year and that was only because of the weather. We were joint-top in the country, across both the Western and Eastern Divisions, for bonus points in the first innings but we never followed that up with a good batting display in the second innings.

If we can do that this time around, then we’ve got every chance of starting off with a victory over in Banbury.

The weather forecast is dire for this weekend and that’s disappointing because, like I’ve mentioned before, it could mean that people aren’t getting the chance to play themselves into form for their club sides.

Hopefully the rain doesn’t affect things too much and holds off so that we can play against Oxfordshire too.

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